The Music of Alvin Curran and MEV

Additional Media Files (click to view)

A selection of recordings and live performances by Alvin Curran and the electronic improvisational group Musica Elettronica Viva (MEV). MEV was originally founded in Rome in 1966 by Curran, Richard Teitelbaum, Frederic Rzewski, Allan Bryant and others. It has since gone through several personnel changes and these later formations are sometimes referred to as MEV2. This program demonstrates the classic avant-garde, electro-acoustic music style that defined the MEV sound during the 1960s and early 70s. Using hand-built electronics and amplifying various household objects MEV concerts during this period were highly improvisational and occasionally quite loud. Anybody interested in the early electronic music of composers such as John Cage, David Tudor, and others should find these live concert recordings a fascinating window into those first days of experimentation with electronic and amplified sounds.

Part 1 of 2:

Musical Selections:

Will Term [text by Clark Coolidge] (1972) / Alvin Curran -- [excerpt from concert held at the Teatro Commumale, Pistoia May 1972] / MEV2

Underwater Princess Waltz [music from the film “Grand Hotel Des Palmes” (1974) by Meme Perlini] -- [excerpt, perhaps from a film by Alberto Grifi] -- [excerpt of the 1st concert, at the Berlin Akademie der Kunste] (Sept. 1967) / MEV -- [excerpt of a concert at the Saint Paul's American church in Rome] (Feb. 1972) / MEV2 -- Under the Fig Tree [from “Music for Every Occasion”] / Alvin Curran